Time out! University events planners need a break! We’ve been running full tilt since early August managing everything from back-to-school events to football tailgating, reunions, ribbon cuttings, symposia, board meetings, celebrity speakers, fund-raising events, and miscellaneous other types of entertaining. We’ve got at least seven more event-packed weeks between now and holiday break crammed with commencement, concerts, and seasonal entertaining. It’s no wonder event planning is ranked by CBS News as the fifth most stressful occupation of 2018.

We just finished one of our signature events, the award-winning Girls Science and Engineering Day (gseduah.com) a fantastic program that introduces elementary girls to STEM. The day requires months of planning and preparation, inevitable long hours and maximum stress the week of the event as we strive to placate helicopter parents and ensure that students, presenters, and volunteers are all where they are supposed to be when they are supposed to be there with all of the tools they need for success. We offer 24 workshops, enroll 550 girls, and manage it with two paid staff members and 289 volunteers. It’s all over in five hours. Girls Science and Engineering Day is always high-visibility and high-pressure to perform but there is usually a euphoria that happens on the back side as we bask in our success, enjoy the happiness of the girls and the great feedback from parents, presenters, and sponsors. This year, we missed that bounce because we were too exhausted to care. This is because Girls Science and Engineering Day was back-to-back with a major week-long symposium with no time to rest and rejuvenate. We are spent from giving our all for weeks on end. A tired, cranky staff means short tempers, errors, and poor attitudes. The opposite of everything we stand for.

As much as we could use one, a 10-day vacation is definitely not an option. But that is exactly what we need—time to take care of ourselves, tend to routine needs like paying bills and going to the grocery store and dry cleaner, seeing family and friends, and most of all, having time to indulge in the luxury of not having to be “on” for other people. No matter how much you love your job or how well you are compensated, eventually, each of us needs time to stop and relax our minds and refresh our bodies. How can we do this when there’s not a vacation in sight?

Here are the things that I’ve found to be helpful:

If you are the boss, start by extending sincere thank yous to your weary staff. I’m not talking about doughnuts in a box cast on the breakroom table, rather, I mean a handwritten personal thank you note for each person recognizing specific ways that individual contributed. Next, give your staff a few “no charge” days off. Let them pick which ones. These are compensatory days that don’t have to count against vacation time. More than just about anything else, this simple acknowledgment of a person’s contributions will be remembered and appreciated.

But what about yourself? When there is only one day to refresh, here is my tonic:

Disconnect from technology. No cell phone, television, or computer allowed;

Be quiet and let quiet surround me;

Reconnect with Mother Nature by taking a walk, working in the garden, or sitting by the water;

Take a too-fast drive in my sports car with the windows down;

Put on comfy clothes and eschew make-up;

Read a book;

Meet non-work friends for brunch or supper. Talk about what theyhave been doing;

Do something with family that has no connection with work and that takes place where you are unlikely to run into people you know;